That’s A Wrap: Post Credits Champions Independent Film

The world stands on a teeter-totter with one foot tipping toward each side, awaiting the fate of film. One edge of the playground represents the gilded gates of a Cinema Paradiso, eager to open and usher in a blockbuster renaissance of the art form. On the other, convenience beckons from the couch as the Golden Age of streaming triumphs closer. Somewhere, lost in the hubbub, is the hungry voice of the emerging and independent filmmaker, though not lost for long. 

If you too want another option and are ready to say “toodle-oo” to the “independent” film festivals that have become amusement parks for the tilt-a-whirl world of household names and mass market budgets—with a glimmering price tag in the upper six hundreds for access to a meager 10 films—then prepare to reap what University of Utah alumni have carefully sown with Post Credits, a networking film festival celebrating U of U film school graduates who have continued their filmmaking career post-graduation.

“Film has a really cool way of capturing time, period and place.”

Recent graduates of the U of U’s Film and Media Arts program Rahul Barkley and Cayden Turnbow conceived of Post Credits while on the set of a local film crafted by their friends and colleagues. “I thought to myself, ‘I want a way to celebrate this film,’” Turnbow says. Barkley continues, “you go to film school and you make a bunch of work for your classes. It’s hard to continue doing that after you graduate because you don’t have any of the resources. So, [Post Credits is] celebrating the mindset that we are out of film school—we have no credits to our name—but we are going to keep making stuff for the sake of making stuff.”

This line of thinking, spurred by the necessary inevitability of fostering artistic expression, gave birth to a full-fledged celebration of local, independent film and filmmakers. With five films slated to screen (for free!) at The Nancy Tessman Auditorium at the Salt Lake City Public Library on March 30 (one feature and four shorts), an analog glitch-art installation by local artist Gavin Clements, a filmmaker Q&A, giveaways and built-in industry networking opportunities, this red carpet affair is not to be missed. Turnbow and Barkley emphasize that Post Credits will be the perfect capstone to the immersive formula the featured filmmakers endured while in school: “We don’t really consider Post Credits as just a film festival—it’s a celebration.” 

So, [Post Credits is] celebrating the mindset that we are out of film school—we have no credits to our name—but we are going to keep making stuff for the sake of making stuff.”

Local filmmakers showcasing their work this year include Duke Ross, Robert Lin, Jackson Rees, Aura Martinez Sandoval, Mason Henrie, Justis Aderibigbe, Jacob Hagen and Maya Olivares. “All of the films are so different—the only connecting theme is that they are all made by U of U alumni,” says Barkley. 

Post Credits is an exercise in mesmeric genre-blending, showcasing films juiced and dripping with satire, movies that plummet head-first-no-safety-net into the intricacies of human drama and homages to classic horror consisting of turns so sharp that you feel the knife of fear twist in your own back. In the words of the filmmakers themselves: Film is an art form where collaboration isn’t just a last-minute peer review—it’s built into the scaffolding that constructs the stories we grow to love. 

“I really appreciate how [film is] the marriage of all art forms, in a way,” Ross says. Henrie continues, “film has a really cool way of capturing time, period and place.” Hagen adds, ”You can share very broad experiences in a very personal way, or very personal experiences in a way that anyone can relate to.” And, as the filmmakers and Post Credits producers all steadfastly agree, film exhibition and creation brings communities together across divides. 

Post Credits implores you to get twisted up, wrung out and laid down by the underground filmmaking scene. Collaborating with these champions of unconventional fine art include the Utah Film Commission, Utah Film Center and the University of Utah’s Film Club. For information on RSVP-ing for Post Credits and more details on the event, follow their Instagram @postcreditsofficial. 

Read more interviews with local creatives:
Artist Interview: Painting With Petals: The Creative Process of the Little Gay Garden 
Artist Interview: I Exist Because They Survived: Artists Unpack Assimilation at Material Gallery